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ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND, 



AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



AT ITS 



ANNUAL EXHIBITION, 



AT ROCKVILLE, SEPTEMBER 14, 1854: 



V 

By CMAtJI¥CEY P. HOLGOIB, 

OF NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE SOCIETY. 






WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED AT THE GLOBE OFFICE. 

1854. 



ADDRESS 



Gentlemen of the Society — My Brother Ag- 
riculturists: I promptly responded to the invita- 
tion with which I was honored to deliver the an- 
nual address before your society, because I ac- 
knowledged, as all friends of agriculture must, 1 
think, acknowledge, an obligation to the farmers 
of Montgomery county for the early stand they 
took in favor of agricultural improvement, and 
for the zeal, intelligence, and success with which 
they have prosecuted the subject. 

Your system of renovating poor lands, your 
selection of fertilizers, and your mode of apply- 
ing them, has been extensively adopted; your 
county, in short, may be considered a model 
county, in the whole routine of the agricultural 
improvements of the day. Delaware farmers 
have read of what was being done in Montgom- 
ery county, and gone into their fields on such au- 
thority, (and no other,) and adopted a similar 
course. Many of us as early as 1846, after hav- 
ing been skeptical as to the value of Peruvian 
guano, applied it on the published testimony of a 
farmer of Montgomery county. We said "this 
Montgomery county witness is competent, he is 
an intelligent agriculturist, he testifies to what he 
knows, and he makes out a clear case; we will 
act on his statements." Many of us did so, my- 
self among the rest, greatly to our advantage. If 
I was called on to designate any county in the 
Union, from my reading and observation, and 
any means of knowledge I have as to what has 
been done in agricultural improvement, I should 
say Montgomery county deserved to be named 
among the first. I don't say this in the language 
of flattery, or in a spirit of exaggeration. I know 



it is high praise; it is certainly high praise to give 
credit to a comparatively small community for 
having contributed, even to a limited extent, to 
advance the agriculture of the country. It is, 
perhaps, equal to saying that such a community 
is an intelligent community, an industrious com- 
munity, full of energy and public spirit, their 
own and their country's benefactors. 

Now, before such an assemblage, before such a 
practical class of my brother agriculturists, I can- 
not think of standing up and reading an essay on 
some branch of agriculture, or attempting to 
demonstrate the truth of some new theory in ag- 
riculture, or speculate as to how far science is yet 
to reveal new and hidden mysteries to us. 1 can 
be of no use to you in this way; I can cancel by 
no such mere paper currency — manuscript obli- 
gations — the debt I acknowledge we all owe you. 

Every man has generally a few decided opin- 
ions; there are certain subjects he has more in- 
vestigated and pondered over than others; if his 
thoughts on any subject are of any value, it is 
when he gives us the fair result of his matured 
opinions. He may be mistaken then; it may not 
be safe to adopt his views in whole or in part; but 
still we may safely hear him as a witness, though 
we should be^mwilling to find a verdict on his 
too imperfect testimony. 

My poor opinions will relate for the most part 
to practical subjects, the most practical subjects 
that claim our attention on the farm, and I would 
choose to address you in the same familiar way 
I would if I were walking with any of you over 
your farms, or you were visiting me at this sea- 
son, and we were walking over mine. 



I should point to my corn fields and say: " Vmi 
see I cut up all my com; after repeated experi- 
ments and much experience, I am satisfied it is 
the best way. It is better for (lie corn, it is infin- 
itely better for the fodder." 1 should add thai 
Borne years back I wintered a hundred head of 
cittle, carrying them well through the winter on 
little besides the corn fodder from one hundred 
and forty acres of corn, for I do not take the 
straw largely into the account, and I had not that 
season twei.ty tons of good hay in my barns, j 
I annually winter my horses in great part on long 
fodder, nor is its length, when fed in cribs or rail 
mangers in the yard, any considerable inconven- 
ience. We tie the fodder in bundles as we husk 
the corn, using rye straw, or broom com stalks, 
and put it in bunches of a dozen or fifteen bun- 
dles and haul as soon after husking as we can, 
and decidedly, then, the best way is to stack in 
the round stack. In cutting up the fodder you | 
avoid all risk of danger from the weather. In 
topping and blading the risk to the blades in bad 
seasons in particular is very great. Corn may 
be cut up, and should be, as early as the blades 
cm be safely pulled. In the case of the premium 
generously offered in Talbot county by that ac- 
complished, intelligent, and zealous friend of flori- 
culture, Edmund Ruffin, Esq., to ascertain which 
mode of saving fodder is least injurious to the 
corn, the very excellent report of Mr. Ilolliday, 
of that county, showed, according to my recollec- 
tion, that corn cut up, not only lost less in weight 
than by any other process of saving the fodder, 
but actually less than when it was left to stand on 
the sta'k in the field until gathered. It may be 
convenient to have a few blades, and certainly it 
often is, but give me as a general rule the noble 
plant as it grew, robbed only of its »rnin, both 
for the stock and the manure yard as well as for 
the subsequent tillage of the field on which it 
grew. Thedillerence between toppingand blading 
and cutting up corn would hardly be stated too 
strong by saying it was the difference between 
insuring the capacity to winter a good herd of 
stock, and having some blades saved for the horses, 
the work stock of the farm.' 

There is another little practical matter deserving 
a word; and here again I give you rather our re- 
cent practice in New Castlecounty than any theory 
on the subject. 

From some approximate estimates made by the 
Agricultural Club .if New Castle county, weascer- 



M4m wan omitted In the d inner* of 

ntbot saw, :. 
conformed llitir pracKM M KUU 1DOTC rMQflUMBdta. 



'ained that the damage to the grain crop, the wheat 
and oats, was not much less annually than th<- 
taxes of the county, and much of this was 

d by damaga to the grain while in shock; we 
were then in the habit of wind-rowing our grain. 
The club recommended in very strong terms sub- 
stituting the round shock doubled capped; that is, 
placing ten sheaves in a round bunch, with the 
arms hugging the tops well in together; then take a 
sheaf and placing the butts against the breast, 
break it down at the band, thus forming an an^le 
like the arm bent at the elbow, throw this over the 
top of the shock, and with a second sheaf fash- 
ioned in the same way , lay it at right angles across 
the first, thus forming a complete quadrangular 
architectural roof. By publications on the subject 
and offering premiums at our agricultural exhibi- 
tions for the best shocker of the round shock with 
a double cap, we almost in a single season intro- 
duced the round shock into general favor; the 
wind-row is hardly now to be seen. 

It will successfully protect from the weather if 
put up right, at least my own experience with 
bearded wheat is to the effect that there is little or 
no danger to be apprehended. In 1&46, the har- 
vest weather was bad; my agricultural journal 
shows that it rained every day for one week, and 
some days all day, yet I subsequently hauled a 
large field of wheat shocked in this way without 
even throwing off the caps. The present season 
my wheat was out a month, as I left it when 
ted and went over my corn, cut my oats, and 
did other work, and though it rained with us more 
or less on several days, I hauled at the end of a 
month directly from the field and threshed, and did 
not see the first grown head. It is best to go 
around occasionally and see the caps are well on. 

I am told that our Virginia friends, in eastern 
Virginia, do not even bind a sheaf of wheat. My 
friend, Mr. Willoughby Newton, told me he had 
not a hand on his farm that knew how to bind a 
sheaf of wheat. They carry it up loose as it is 
rut, and shock or stack it in small stacks. It would 
strike us that it must be a slow process, and very 
awkward handling it in all subsequent operations; 
but I am told this plan has many friends, and in 
practice it may have more to recommend it than 
strikes us at first view. Hands will get great 
dexterity in binding. 1 have seen them, and no 
doubt you have many of them in Montgomery 
county, that when hard 'pressed by the machine 
would bind as they walked, only slacking their 
pace as they paused for an instant to take up the 
gavil, then throwing the band round and tying it 
as they walked on. 

While in Ergland last summer, dining with 



J! some of their agriculturists, conversation happen- 
ing to turn on their great loss of gruin from the 
i weather in harvesting, I suggested the round 
shock with its architectural roof, which I saw was 
I new to them. An Englishman is slow to believe, 
i and especially to believe that any way but his own 
i way is the right way. I finally told them I would 
i not attempt to convince them by argument, but if 
\ there was any wheat handy, I would like to show 
them the round shock, the " American shock, "as I 
.called it, with its architectural roof. "Agreed," 
, said they, and we adjourned from the table to the 
barn floor, where I at once erected several shocks in 
; about the time as they admitted it would take to 
wind-row it. They expressed great admiration of 
the shock, seemed much taken with it, without a 
dissenting voice, and all proposed to try it this 
harvest, and some promised to report to me the 
result. 

As the two matters I have mentioned are so 
eminently practical, I will add one word on a 
topic less utilitarian, and certainly more orna- 
mental — I mean ornamental shade trees. 

Our warm climate, and the length of our sum- 
mers, render shade almost a necessity, and there 
is nothing with which a rural home can be em- 
bellished and set off to such advantage, and at so 
little expense, as with trees and shrubbery. Our 
native forests supply an abundant variety in the 
tulip poplar, the walnut, the ash, the beech, the 
elm, the cedar, and other varieties; while the com- 
mon black-haw, cultivated as a shrub, would be 
mistaken on the lawn, from its delicate and beau- 
tiful foliage, for some plant of the tropics. The 
home and its surroundings give character to the 
estate, and are not without influence even upon 
the character of those who inhabit that home. 
Where homes are so cheaply made beautiful and 
pleasant, there is no apology for a nude, naked, 
exposed dwelling, the drapery of trees, and vines, 
and shrubbery being as necessary and more beau- 
tiful than anything with which the house can be 
ornamented within. But this is all a truism, and 
has been repeated much more beautifully and im- 
pressively a hundred times before. Now, for the 
practical comment — for the rule that, if followed, 
will produce the desired results. Every year 
before beginning to plant corn, no matter what the 
exigencies are, let the proprietor say, " I must 
first plant my trees; my trees first, and then my 
corn," and taking his team to the forest a single 
day will suffice for" pitching" this crop, including 
one or more trees to be set down at every cottage 
or tenement on the estate. He will be surprised 
to find how soon, adhering to this plan every 



year, his grounds will become ornamented with 
beautiful shade trees, enhancing the value of his 
property five hundred percent, beyond any actual 
expense, while giving him, at the same time, a 
delightful and pleasant home. 

There are some other practical topics I would 
allude to, but I have been anticipated in one or 
more of these by Benjamin Hallowell, who, in his 
address before this society in 1852, ably discussed 
and completely exhausted them. 

Let me now address you on a topic second, 
perhaps, to no other in connection with the occu- 
pation we follow — I mean labor. 

Among the rules of the Royal Agricultural 
Society of Great Britain, setting forth its object, 
is the following: 

" To promote the comfort and welfare of the 
laborers, and to encourage the improved manage- 
ment of their cottages and gardens." 

If I was called on to name or point out upon 
whatagricultural success moredepended than upon 
anything else, I should say, upon the labor of the 
farm — the farm hards, and the judicious direction 
of them. 

Good tillage, working crops well, and in season, 
will not always insure great production on all 
land, but the husbandman may undoubtedly so 
thoroughly cultivate, by "pulverizing, pulver- 
izing, pulverizing," as Jethro Tull has it, as to 
obtain the last particle of the phosphates and alke- 
lies the earth contains, while the perfect tilth of 
the surface thus exposed, will invite the rain and 
the dews in their descent to dress his fields with a 
substitute for Peruvian guano. 

What, then, is the best kind of labor for us? 
Those who have them, and have them in suffi- 
cient numbers, may use their own domestic ser- 
vants, which is undoubtedly good labor; but they 
are generally quite inadequate to the supply of the 
labor necessary in the now improved condition of 
our farms — an addition of fifty to one hundred 
per cent, more labor being now required in carry- 
ing on the system of high cultivation that has 
been, and is being, generally adopted, than before 
our agriculture was so improved. I speak par- 
ticularly of the northern counties of Maryland 
and of Delaware. 

I believe that the English description of farm 
labor is the best we can have. I mean the labor 
of tenants — "cottagers," as they are called in 
England — living on the eftate. What is the ob- 
jection to our having this description of labor? 
These English cottagers are coming here, the Irish 
cottagers come here, the German, the Swiss, and 
the French come. We have but to domiciliate them 
on our estates as they were domiciliated before 



6 



they i ame. When first arrived, entertaining high (i fnniily, may he of service, nnd can he called on in 
expectations, it may he necessary to let them look the hurry and press of harvest, or at other times, 
•boat a while; but in the end, if a comfortable cot- for light jobs or for domestic lahor. To he sur- 
tage, with its ample garden and neat surroundings:; rounded by an industrious yeomanry of this kind, 
of shade and water invites them, they are likely ; comfortably fed and lodged, should be gratifying 
to settle down contented, and be satisfied with to the proprietor, and will make him feel strong 
moderate wages, especially now since the price of , ( for executing business on the farm. The relation 
produce is so advanced that the laboring man, is patriarchal, and is an interesting one; but the 
even at city wa^es, or the price paid by manufac- interest of the proprietor should not be confined to 
turers, finds it hard to feed his family out of city getting work out of hie men, and even paying them 
markets at retail prices, and will appreciate the fairly for it. He should interest himself to know 
advantages of a rural home, where the necessa* that they spent their means wisely, inquire how 
ries of life may he hud so much cheaper. This they were getting on, how they were likely to 
state of things will probably continue, and the make the ends of the year meet, be sure that the 
landed proprietor, who has so long been overbid garden was well cultivated, that garden seeds were 
by other interests, is likely to command an abund- provided, and even propose, with all or any of his 
ance of this description of labor. tenants, a generous competition for producing the 

But to get a selection of the best of these la- best and earliest vegetables; thus, by a little ad- 
borers — those trained from their youth up in all dress, exciting their emulation, and insuring an 
the details of a careful and neat husbandry— it abundance on their humble but neat-spread boards, 
might almost justify a trip to Devonshire, where || The tenant will soon realize that he is getting 
farm labor is said to be cheaper than in any other on well, and will be contented; and the contented 
part of England. But I would not, by any means, mnn J 8 always best prepared to discharge his 
confine the choice to foreigners. Our own coon- duties. Is this personal interest in his laborers 
trymen, either white or black, when they could an ,i tenantry too great a tax on the proprietor? 
be had, would often be preferable. ' On the contrary, he should find his happiness in 

We must take an interest in them, and make it, for he would often realize that while thus pro- 
their homes comfortable. The English proprietor | noting his own ends, he was discharging high 
takes a great interest in his tenants — his " cot- Christian duties, the duties of philanthropy and 
tagers," as he calls them — and is proud to show benevolence. There is a certain kind of society, 
you their neat, comfortable dwellings; and will too, to be found by the well-regulated mind, in in- 
take care, at the same time, to let the gude wife tercourse with these unlettered sons of toil. The 
show you her neat, clean cottage, her ruddy chil- n ian who always preserves his own self-respect 
dren, and cupboards filled with crockery ware; the w yj never i, e j„ danger from any familiarity of not 
latter — the crockery ware — in the opinion of the receiving the respect of others. Such permanent 
owner of both, seeming, however, to challenge j tenants get to take an interest in the farm and in 
the most admiratinn ! j tne success of its operations, for they feel their 

This tenant-labor is what we, in Delaware, a own is identified with it. That these views may 
good deal depend upon at present, especially j 1 not seem to rest merely on theory, I may add that 
among the larger cultivators. Twenty-five dollars I have a half a dozen of these tenants on my own 
a year is the price usually allowed the landlord estate, who have been with me, most of them, for 
for the rent of the house and garden; and fifty several years; and I have found the relation, as I 



cents a day, and board, is paid for labor, furnish- 
ing regular work, all fair days, for nine or ten 
months. Sometimes through harvest, harvest 
wages are paid; or where the tenant is hired by 
the year, |1S I, -I 10, I r |150; or |10 or | 
month is paid, us the parties may barg I 

These laborers, lodging themselves, are less in 
the way than young men. Then they are much 
easier paid; it is felt less, as they are paid, to a 
considerable extent, off the farm — thus making a 
home market. Then they are reliable; they are 
always there, for their families are there, and 
Bomelimes the wife, or the junior members of the 



have described it, one of the best that can exist in 
the absence of other labor, between the proprietor 
and the hands on his farm. 

Next t<> this description otlabor — perhaps, in- 
deed, where it is practical to obtain it, equal to it, 
and, on the score of expense, even preferable to 
it — is apprentice labor. This relation of n. 
and apprentice is as old as the common law; and, 

though more oftei nfined to ■ binding otit to 

learn some i ly appliea* 

acquiring ■ knowledge of the " art and mys- 
tery " of agriculture. 

1 recently saw a statement in an English ngri- 



cultural periodical of the expense of this kind of 
labor, in an account the master of twenty appren- 
ticed boys to agriculture had carefully kept, giving 
the items of board) the cost of each meal, of 
cloths, velveteen coats and pants, shirts, caps, 
shoes, &c, all drawn up with the utmost detail 
and care, and he clearly showed it was the cheap- 
est labor in England; cheaper than hiring labor at 
twenty-live cents a day, and the laborer boarding 
himself. 

I have ten of these apprentices on my farm at 
this time, colored boys, bound till they are twenty- 
one, and have not had less than about this num- 
ber for the last ten years. They begin to earn 
their living very early. You may work a farm 
very cheaply with this kind of labor. If black 
apprentices cannot always be obtained, white 
ones may, from the cities. The advantage to 
agriculture and the country will be, if this agri- 
cultural apprentice system could be more gener- 
ally adopted, that we should be growing up a 
well trained set of farm laborers whose skill and 
services would be of benefit to the country as 
well as to themselves. 

NOW as tO the MANAGEMENT OF FARM HANDS; 

and this is a very important subject, and one not 
half enough considered. In the Army it is the 
business of the officers, a part of a daily routine 
with them, to drill, and discipline, and train, and 
manage the men, to look to their habits of order 
and sobriety. The object is to have a perfect 
corps, one in high physical condition and skilled 
in their art. Because we cannot exercise the 
same authority over our men, it is no reason why 
we should be utterly indifferent to everything but 
getting a day's work out of them. In mechanic 
workshops, and manufacturing establishments, to 
a great extent, men work piece work, and in all 
cases the hours of labor are carefully regulated, 
by which the employer is at least certain that the 
time will be put in. On the farm this cannot be 
done; it is not practicable, advisable, or best, and 
hence to get out of the men what can be got by a 
little scolding, a little coaxing, and sometimes a 
little cursing, is about all, as some view it, that 
can be done. If this is so, we are worse off than 
any other description of employers. We know 
this difficulty about labor is a great source of 
annoyance to many; it is a common subject of 
complaint, and even forces some from the pursuit 
of agriculture. But it ought, on the contrary, to 
be so managed that we should find our happiest 
hours passed in driving with our men " the team 
a field," or carrying on any and all other opera- 
tions of the farm, even to its drudgery. 



The first great matter, as I have said before, is 
to have a regular force; whether slave, tenant, or 
apprentice labor, let it be a regular, instead of a 
guerrilla, force; men who have entered the same 
fields before together. Let us take care to keep 
them in spirit; drive the work, but don't let the 
work drive and drag and worry us. Be on the 
spot to point out the short ways to the men; ex- 
cite their emulation, rouse their ambition; a very 
little address will suffice for this. Don't worry 
and fag them, and press them for the last muscu- 
lar exertion they are capable of making, every 
day; don't seem too exacting; then when you 
really get into a tight place, when the crops are 
threatened with the grass, or the harvest presses, 
you have a fresh s§t of willing hands to follow 
you. Yes, I say to follow; for it is then the pro- 
prietor should beat his post, with his eye directed 
to every operation going on, encouraging and 
cheering on the men, looking that they are well 
refreshed, and their comforts attended to. A set 
of hands so managed will be sure that their reaper 
is the first to beat the reveille of the morning, and 
their vesper song will be the last heard among the 
harvesters. 

I once heard a military gentleman of much ex- 
perience remark, that it was well understood in 
the Army that good captains made good compa- 
nies. He said, when in Florida with the army, 
that certain companies had such a reputation that, 
when any formidable obstacle was encountered, 
as clearing hamocks for the passage of artillery, 
dragging artillery through swamps, or rafting over 
rivers, these companies were looked to to advance 
and encounter the difficulty. But, said he, it 
would be seen that the captains of all such com- 
panies were bold, spirited, enterprising fellows, 
calm and cheerful, making light of difficulties 
themselves, and pointing out, with judgment and 
foresight, the best way to encounter them. 

I think there is a mistake in many parts of the 
country in getting the men out too early, blowing 
the horn too early, and working too late. There 
is objection to this course growing out of our cli- 
mate; it is the fertile source of disease. Frorr 
sun to sun is long enough, with an hour, or ar 
hour and a half, respite at noon, to get all th< 
work out of a man he is fairly capable of doing 
You may keep him longer on his feet, but evet 
standing exhausts him. What is military expe 
rience on this subject ? You will often see it statet 
in the reports of generals of armies, for instance 
"that the men had been advanced, at forcei 
marches, for sixteen hours a day, and were in n 
condition, when they arrived, to encounter th 



8 



enemy." And to another point, that the men 
Bhould be well fed, the report will be, that " the 
commissariat department was deficient, the pro- 
visions bad and scanty, and the men had been on 
half rations, and therefore in no condition to 
fight;" or, that "they were without shoes, with 
tattered garments, exposed to the weather, and 
not in a condition to take the field." 

Nor will our men be in heart to take the field, 
and win our rural victories, bloodless though they 
be, but not won without the strong arm, the quick- 
ened pulse, and the moist brow, unless we attend 
to their physical condition, and are careful not 
unnecessarily to over-tax them. The American 
laborer, white and black, is a free soul, easily ex- 
cited to go at nearly his best, spending his strength 
as lavishly as the prodigal his inheritance. I re- 
member the instance of a young fellow that came 
up from the pines of Sussex county seeking labor, 
who was, at first, temporarily employed, and, 
subsequently, for a longer period. If there was 
a hot and a hard place, Purnel Davis was sure 
quietly to be a volunteer for it; there he would 
be. I became curious to know if his free spirit 
would carry him beyond even his great physical 
powers of endurance. An opportunity finally 
offered. It was at the close of one of those busy, 
hot, oppressive days in the haying season, when 
he had stood to his fork, making its ashen handle 
bend and quiver as he pitched to a round of teams 
that had been running from morning till night, 
until he had become, as I discovered, very much 
exhausted. The voice is an infallible sign of great 
exhaustion, and the poor fellow could hardly 
speak. I said to him, " the sky, I think, Purnel, 
has rather a mackerel look." " Rather so, "he re- 
plied. " And then," said I, •" we have not only 
a good deal of hay out, but our wheat is quite 
ready for us." "True," said Purnel, " very true, 
sir." " What say you, then," said I, " Purnel 
Davis, to another round of loads to-night?" Now, 
to make another round of loads, five teams had 
to be driven over a mile, their loads pitched off in 
inconvenient mows, and before they could be got 
back, be loaded, and return again, it must have 
approached midnight. But the young Sussex 
county yeoman, the free-hearted American labor- 
er, did not hesitate in his reply for a moment. lie 
had breath enough left to speak, and speak he did 
promptly, and Mid, "I think, sir, we had 
do it." I could not but laugh outright at (lie 
poor fellow's pluck. I have no doubt he would 
have stood to his fork until he fainted and fell. 
" Who m mi ii -i'ii <1 to ill*- voice of pi 
Tip- idenct "i DefVci con ne'ei ■ppalt." 
But to you who have witnessed, like myself, the 



generous and unselfish efforts of these willing men 
to carry the day — yes, to enrry the day, to secure 
the harvest, to make all safe — no apology will be 
necessary, because the subjeel of this brief eu 
is only an humble laboring farm hand; one who 
neither looks to patrimony or matrimony for a 
living, but relies on his own good arm to win it 
for him, as his furrow brakes the glebe, his ax 
fells the monarch oak, as he strikes for it with his 
scythe in swarthing the grass, or with his cradle 
in cutting the golden harvest. 

My argument, then, in reference to the labor of 
our farms is, that we must so select, manage, and 
conduct it as to make these manual operations in 
which so many of our hours and days are passed 
a pleasant occupation, and if not an actual pleas- 
ure, at least an agreeable duly. If we do not, 
most other occupations have the advantage over 
us; if we do not, and our lives are to be passed in 
watching, scolding, and barking up our men, 
there is only one consolitary reflection that con 
arise from it, and that is that we shall make our- 
selves so miserable here that the devil himself can 
hardly make us more so hereafter. 

Of course, there are scenes of trial and vexa- 
tion to be encountered — no occupation of life is 
exempt from these; but if the agriculturist has 
more annoyances arising directly from his busi- 
ness than is to be found in other occupations, even 
the most favored pursuits, the fault is either in the 
selection of bad labor or the bad management of it. 

I have made some suggestions to show that even 
so far as the manual and normal operations of 
agriculture are concerned, we are quite on a foot- 
ing with the most favored pursuit. Let us see 
now if for other reasons the American agricul- 
turist has not cause to be satisfied with the pleas- 
ant places in which his lot is cast. 

The agriculturist certainly has the advantage in 
the great and all-important consideration of health 
over all denizens of cities. Dr. Draper, the Pres- 
ident of the Medical Faculty of New York, sta- 
tu! in his annual address of 1853, that five hundred 
children under two years of age died weekly in 
the city of New York. We have seen this num- 
ber exceeded the present year by their pub! 
weekly reports of mortality. More than five 
hundred mothers have been made to mourn be- 
tween the two Sabbath days for the loss of young 
children in the city of New York. Put Dr. Dra- 
per stilted this additional, bold, and startling fact, 
th.it but for the resources of population they draw 
from the country, the population of our large cities 
would become extinct.* 

•n.,11. Since the nbova wni mitten, Dr. Jobs Boll, 
.in • in nit hi physician of Philadelphia, on my nonHoiInf, 



9 



r As an offset to this greater risk encountered to 
Hheir health and lives by the denizens of cities, it 
:is said they enjoy greater facilities for accumula- 
vting wealth, the principal object for which the 
(American citizen is supposed to live! and certainly 
'the object in the pursuit of which he often prema- 
turely dies. Theremay bemuchdoubt, Iapprehend, 
as to even the correctness of this pretension. Farm- 
iers have a very queer way of keeping accounts 
^keeping them for most partonly " in thehead,"as 
it is called; a bad place to keep columns of figures. 
: They credit the poor farm for what is left when 
they have got their living out of it. When we 
'have lived well, and dressed well, rode well, and 
'entertained well, we usually give the poor farm 
credit for what is left — what we can't eat up or 
i spend, and, I had almost said, give away. 
i The farmer has lived in a good house. A mer- 
: chant in the city would have to pay from $500 to 
$1,000 for as good a one. He has set a good 
table. The merchant going to the meat market, 
the vegetable market, the fruit market, the baker 
• and the dairyman, would have an item in his neatly 
kept ledger of one thousand dollars or more for 
house expenses. Another charge of a couple of 
hundred or more would go down for fuel; which 
the farmer would haul from his woods, and make 
no account of. Another charge the merchant 
would make for his riding — either the expense of 
keeping a carriage, or bills paid for hiring at 
livery. 

Here then is made up of out-goes for necessa- 
ries in order to live in a city, some two thousand 
dollars and upwards, equal to the interest on the en- 
tire purchase money of a fine farm, and of which 
items, or their aggregate, the farmer generally 
takes little or no notice in any account he may 
keep with his farm. Yet the first thing that 
money is wanted for, the first thing it is expended 
for, is to support the family. 

I would like to see an account stated, say by a 
master ; .;i chancery, where he was instructed, 
from the character of some litigation that might 
arise, to charge the farmer with each item he had 
consumed at city retail prices, and for each ride he 
had taken at livery stable prices. It would show 
up some of our " economical farmers" so called, 
I suspect, as great spendthrifts. The rate at 
which they had lived would not a little surprise 
themselves as well as His Honor the Chancellor. 
Of the capacity of a farm to pay an income in 

to trim the statement of Dr. Draper, said lie had no doubt 
of the truth of the remark, and added that he had often 
observed that if Philadelphia were to be inclosed with a 
wall, so as to keep out the country population, the inhabit- 
ants of the city would in time become extinct. 



raising and supporting a family, I was forcibly 
struck on being called on by a respectable old 
neighbor in his last sickness, to draw up his will. 
Seated at his bedside, I asked him what he 
wished to dispose of. "My farm," said he. 
Knowing he had lived, I may say, like a gentle- 
man, a country gentleman, riding always in good 
style, dressing and educating his family well, en- 
tertaining liberally, besides having a family of 
grandchildren on his hands to support, although 
I knew he was a good farmer, and an industrious 
man, and the hands of his help-meet were swift 
to the distaff, still I thought that with his farm of 
but two hundred acres he must have got behind, 
and put him a question to learn if he meant to 
| give it subject to any incumbrances. " Incum- 
I brances," said he, " oh, no, sir, the good farm has 
kept herself clear; not an acre of her soil," ex- 
claimed the old man exultingly, " is covered by 
any man's parchment. The farm has supported 
me and my wife for nearly half a century, we 
j have raised our ten children on it, and it has 
been a shelter and home to our grandchildren 
when their parents were stricken down or over- 
taken by misfortune. I have it now clear to leave 
to my children, with about $2,000, its surplus 
earnings, out at interest." 

This incident occurred early in my farming life. 
It made a strong impression on my mind. I said 
after this : " I will trust to my farm, I see it will 
at least support and feed me and mine, I will even 
lend it the last dollar I can spare." Yes, we may 
trust the land. The banks and the railroads, the 
stock and the scrip, may or may not pay us back, 
but this nursing mother will fulfill all her promises, 
honor all drafts. You may draw on her at six 
months for your oat crop, at nine months for 
your corn crop, and at twelve months for your 
wheat, and if from any great calamity, as the 
drought or the flood, she cannot always fully pay 
up on the day, she will make a handsome install- 
ment, ask a little time, and then pay up to the 
last farthing, and if you have been generous to 
her, maybe she will make you a handsome pres- 
ent besides. 

There is another strong argument in favor of an 
investment in real estate. 

The value of a fund depends upon its perpetu- 
ity — the continuance of its existence. A man 
seeks to earn what will support and serve him 
and his posterity Fie would desire to have the 
estate or property descend, as well as his name, 
to his lineage, to his children, grandchildren, and 
great grandchildren, for generations. This is the 
object of his toil. What then is the safest fund 
in which to invest in this country? What is the 



10 



only fund that the experience of the last fi/ty years 
has shown, with very few exceptions, would not 
be quite unsafe as a provision for heirs? Suppose 
the most prudent man in the country, fifty years 
ago, had assumed a trust to him and 1 is heirs of 
fifty thousand dollars, to be kept invested in 
stocks of any description, for fifty years, the 
trustee and his heirs, at the expiration of the 
trust, to account for the fund. Can any one 
doubt that the chances are ninety-nine in a hun- 
dred that the fund would have been lost, and the 
trustee and his family ruined ? Or, if a like prop- 
osition was to be made to a responsible trustee 
now, with a handsome commission for the risk, 
a prudent man would probably decline the trust 
and avoid the responsibility. Yet many are will- 
ing to trust themselves during their lifetime to 
manage this description of property forthemselves, 
and they may, with good luck, be equal to the task. 
But the question still occurs: What is the prob- 
able duration of such a fund in families? What 
is the safety of the fund itself invested in the cur- 
rent stocks of the country, and next, what is the 
safety of so available, tangible, transmutable a 
fund in the hands of heirs? There are no statis- 
tics that I am aware of, showing the probable con- 
tinuance of estates in lund in families, and estates 
in personal property, such as stocks. But the re- 
mark of a gentleman connected with a large bank- 
ing institution shows practically how it works. 
He observed that he had noticed that an heir was 
no sooner left stock in the bank than the first 
thing he generally did was to sell and transfer it, 
and it was often the first notice they had of the 
decease of the former holder. 

Real estate — lands in preference — or a fund 
eecared by real estate, is unquestionably not 
only the highest security, but in the hands of 
heirs it is the only one likely to serve a single 
generation. Hence the wisdom of the common 
law, that neither permits the guardian to sell the 
lands of his ward, or even the court, in its discre- 
tion, to grant the authority for their sale, but only 
upon gooi) and sufficient grounds shown, as a 
necessity for raising a fund for the education and 
Bupport of the ward. Even a Lord Chancellor 
can only touch so sacred a fund for this or siniilnr 
reasons. And the common law is wise on this 
■ubject as most others. It is the experience and 
observation of mankind that such a fund is the 
safest, and hence the provision of the law. 

Those who acquire personal property then, 
acquire only whut will Inst about a generation, 
longer or shorter; it perishes, n passes nwuy, am] 
ia gone. There is undoubtedly more pernm 
in real estate. It is not so easily transferred; it 



is not so secretly transferred; the law has its 
ceremonies to be observed before it can be trans- 
ferred, and often the consent of more than one 
person is necessary, and often, loo, when all 
other guards fail, early memories will come in — 
memories of 

" The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tai fled wild-wood, 
And every loved spot which our infancy knew," 

that will make even the prodigal pause before 
parting with this portion of his inheritance. 

The fact will be found true to a great extent, 
that families rich in real estate fifty or one hundred 
years ago, are still, in very many cases, wealthy 
families. One is particularly struck with this in 
looking over the " Minutes" of the old Philadel- 
phia Agricultural Society, established in 1?»5, 
nearly seventy years ago. Dr. Alfred L. Elwyn, 
in a most commendable spirit of respect to the 
memory of the worthy dead, as well as a means 
of instruction to the living, recently published 
these minutes at his own expense, containing the 
records of the society for twenty-five years; and 
with a modesty only found in connection with 
genius and rare accomplishments, suppressed 
even the name of the compiler, the neat little 
volume appearing without a name, or a word of 
introduction, but simply a record of the doings of 
this past generation of agriculturists. 

Among the honorary members of the society, I 
discover the names of the following twenty-ont 
gentlemen belonging to Maryland. Their families 
are generally better known to you than lev myself; 
but I think the record — these twenty-one names, 
including all from Maryland — will corroborate the 
position above stated. They are: Robert Browne, 
Daniel Carroll, Thomas Carridine, Edward De 
Courcey, Michael Earle, William Embleton, 
Adam Gray, Henry Dorcey Gough, Esq., Wil- 
linm Hemsley, William Ilindman. Esq., Samuel 
Hughes, Esq., William Howard, Esq., Balti- 
more, William Howard, Esq., Maryland, Ed- 
ward Lloyd, Esq., Rev. Leonard Neal, William 
Pact, Esq., Nicholas Rogers, Major David Rosa, 
John Singleton, James Tilghman, Esq., and 
William Winder, Esq. 

Though time and fortune have made changes in 
the condition of the families represented by th« 
above names, still can any twenty-one families be 
named now in Maryland, the heads of whom, 
seventy years ago, were engaged in commerce, or 
had their wealth m personal property, that now 
possess as large an amount of inherited property? 
In this case the selection was not of the wealthy 
men merely, but the twenty-one names hi 
be those belonging as honorary members to one 
society. 



11 



The permanent wealth of the country undoubt- 
edly consists in the landed estate of the country. 
It is a safe fund for those to possess who make 
the acquisition, and it is a safe fund for those to 
hold who inherit the property so acquired; while 
that class whose cupidity induces them to seek 
the highest dividend paying stocks, may literally 
be said to " toil for heirs we know not who." 

For some reasons already assigned, and for very 
many others that might be assigned, the landed 
class is undoubtedly to constitute the first class in 
American society. They will be more homoge- 
neous, constituting a distinct type. They will be 
highly educated; the increasing wealth of the 
landed proprietors will justify this. An elevated 
moral tone, a gentle and high-bred courtesy 
should distinguish them, and make them fit repre- 
sentatives of the best American society. Where, 
as in our cities, fashion is allowed to govern, and 
without much reference to the antecedents of the 
party, admit, for most part, such as can boast a 
palatial residence, a splendid equipage, and can 
afford to give elegant entertainments — such a 
circle, however elevated the character and refine- 
ment of a portion of it may be, can never be con- 
sidered, as a whole, as a polished, high, superior 
order of society, or be allowed to pass as repre- 
senting the first class of American society. 

Professional life has hitherto been much sought 
in this country, and the learning and science it has 
embraced has very properly given its members a 
high social position. But the facilities to the ad- 
mission to the professions will lower the standard; 
it has done so to some extent already, and the 
same cause has greatly diminished the emoluments 
of professional life, and the professions will be 
much less sought hereafter, and agricultural pur- 
suits, by this class, will be much more frequently 
sought. 

Let me not be understood as saying that it will 
be for the petty distinction of occupying the first 
place in fashionable society that the landed inter- 
est will seek to highly educate their sons and 
daughters. This will follow; but more worthy 
objects, more enlarged and patriotic views will 
have reference to the wholesome action of the pub- 
lic mind, to the safe and prosperous existence of 
our institutions. The conservative tone of such 
a class will act most happily in keeping down the 
isms of the day, in keeping up the moral tone, re- 
buking corruption and licei^ousness in public life, 
and in dispensing with the services of the ambi- 
tious demagogue, who is really only seeking to 
serve himself, and secure, in his place, the ser- 
vices of honest, good, competent men, who will 
faithfully serve their country. 



But, to accomplish all these results, one thing is 
necessary. It is necessary that, in every dwelling 
and farm-house in theland , from one end of the coun- 
try to the other, that the mother should train; ay, 
and that the father should train; train ! train ! train ! 
This is the word, if the goal is to be reached. We 
have formerly trained our horses, trained our 
dogs, trained our cattle. But a greater race is to 
come off: we enter our children — our sons and our 
daughters — for the great sweepstakes over the 
Union course! Train, then, early. Train late; 
train in the nursery; train in the school room; 
train in the drawing room, and in the field, and 
train at the altar. Erect your college courses. 
The farmer of Silver Spring — Francis P. Blair, 
Esq. — has exhorted the Congress of the nation, in 
one of the most argumentative, eloquent, and able 
appeals ever made to that body in the form of a 
memorial — exhorted them in the name of Wash- 
ington, in the name of agriculture, in the name of 
the American people, to purchase the hallowed and 
consecrated ground of Mount Vernon, and dedi- 
cate it to the cause of the diffusion of agricultural 
knowledge. And yet Congress pauses. Five mil- 
lions of agriculturists appeal in vain for so small a 
boon. Represented through their societies, organ- 
ized throughout almost every county of the Union, 
with State associations, and a national association , 
their annual gatherings already constituting the 
great national gala days of the country, with an 
agricultural press already read by a half a million 
of voters — paying the taxes of the country — con- 
stituting three fourths of the people of the coun- 
try, and yet Congress gives to agriculture no bu- 
reau, no department, no institution of learning; 
they know us but to tax us. In the moral world 
a just retribution is visited upon acts of omission, 
as well as upon acts of commission. The agri- 
culturists have but to combine to punish such 
slighting of their claims, such overslaughing of 
themselves and their interests, and insure from 
more faithful servants more faithful work. The 
day of reckoning may be at hand. 

It must be said, however, in reference to the 
memorial presented by Mr. Blair and others, for 
the purchase of Mount Vernon and the establish- 
ment of an agricultural school and model farm, in 
connection with the Smithsonian Institution, that 
General Morton, of the Senate's Committee on 
the subject, made a very able and satisfactory 
report, and it is to be hoped the measure will be 
promptly acted on at the approaching session of 
Congress. 

Ar.d what a course for training this would 
afford to the youth of the country ! The farmers 



12 



of niy own little State came forward recently 
to mnke up a balance of a fond ol r the 

establishment of an agricultural department in 
connection with Delaware College, at Newark. 
The i- on the first day of this month 

forty-three young gentlemen entered that institu- 
tion, being twice the average number for the 
sever. lining from Georgia, South Caro- 

lina, Maine, representing in all ten States; and 
to help us along a Montgomery county farmer, 
a Washington city lawyer — my friend, Joseph 1 1 , 
BradK ame up and made us a most able 

and eloquent address. I am changing work with 
that gentleman, and paying him off to-day; and if 
i have not performed my task as well, even he 
will auinit that I " put in good tin 

Maryland, also, moved thereto by one who is 
always first to move, and the most efficient to 
move in every good cause connected with agri- 
culture, Charles B. Calvert, Esq., is taking steps 
towards the establishment of an agricultural col- 
lege. 

Enter, then, your sons. Sound in their ears 
the exhortation of the father of Daniel Webster to 
his son, as they were resting from their labors on 
a hay cock in the meadow, " Get learning, my 
eon, get learning, get learning !" and the futher 
was reaily to make any sacrifice to this end. 

" 1 remember," says Webster, " the very hill 
which we were ascending, through deep snows in 
a New England sleigh, when my father first made 
known his purpose of sending me to college. I 
could not speak. How could he, I thought, with 
so large a family and in such narrow circum- 
stances, think of incurring so great an expense for 
me. A warm glow run all over me, and 1 laid 
my head on my father's shoulder, and wept." 

Our children will remember the sacrifices we 
make for them, and bless our memories for it; 
nay, they will, as they relate such sacrifices, let 
our voices be heard above our graves. 

<• tr lining of our BOOS, SO far as their 
physi i concerned, how favorable 

are our country homes, and the spoil.-, labors, 
and exercise they induce 1 Nor is the seen 
favorable to their moral culture, where, remote 
from , they behold in everything thai 

■unround them the works of nature, 

i nature Dp I Qod J" 

theo, must be ad rough 

the schools and the colleges, while every VI 



they must learn the precepts of our blessed 
, and seek to excel in the prncti.e of 
in virtue. Train then you moth«rt! 
ame of Washikotom! Begin with 
the anecdote of his childhoDd, when the father 
said to the child six years old, after first question- 
ing all his servants, "George, did you cut the 
pear tree in the garden-" The reply was, 
" Father, I can't tell a lie; it was I that did it." 

! Truth how lovely thou art ! base and sup* 
port of every virtue ! Let our youth be t 
worship thee! who was ever false to anything, 
who never spoke but under the influence ol thy 
spirit, and binding this talisman on the brow of 
her young son, a talisman handed down from 
Mary, the mother of Washington, let the father 
now train and instruct the youth of more mature 
years, and still in the name of Waihiwgtom — 
that noble model! — "The glass wherein our 
youth should dress themselves;" pointing him out 
first as the farmer's boy, breaking and trail 
colts, enjoying and excelling in all manly exer- 
cises, as riding, swimming, leaping, throwing the 
bar, and as thus invigorated, trained, and hardened, 
penetrating, while a mere youth, on his country's 
mission, the western forests, crossing the Alle- 
ghanies through frosts and snows, and overswollen 
streams, with a noble constancy, firmness, and 
resolution that already bespoke him theundaunted 
hero that the ambushed attack of the lurking foe 
on the same route subsequently proved him to be. 
Then his wisdom in council, his patriotism, bis 
love of his country, which having served until he 
had seen herenjoying peace, happiiu 
like the Roman, like the greatest Roman among 
them all, quietly seeking his rural home at Mount 
Vernon, and dedicating the remainder of bis life 
to the noble cause of agriculture. Yes, study the 
life, my young friends, of Washington, as a 
farmer, as a great agriculturist — it i 
model as the world ever furnished. He loved 
agriculture; he wrote for it; he spoke fy>\- it; he 
worked for it; he lived for it; and he died for it ! 
For it was through his zeal in the cause that he 
! himself in riding over his estate on a 
stormy day, the 12tl December, 1" 

he lost his life. 1 lis life and his death, tli 
sanctify to us our calling. Let us al 
it, and let us be careful to teach our children, our 
id our daughters, to rt 



7 

The following Notice of the Address, which appeared in the Daily Globe, of 

Washington, is published by the Society in connection with the Address : 

, mr. HOiiCOMB'S yeomanry, in his readiness to work on 

agricultural address. until midnight, to defeat a threatening 

> The addresses called forth by agricul- fey, or to be prepared to undertake a new 
tural associations are among their most Pl d , that . ™*hiin. 

useful results. The speaker selected to L 1 he P;? tu ; e drawn from the relations 
fignalize the annual fair is usually a man i betvvee ," 1,e farmers of Delaware and their 
JisUnguished for his love of agriculture- j c °! ter laborers, of their joint dut.es and 
for the reading which stores his mind |: e . ffor r ts ' has * . c 1 ha . rm ,n the prosped of 
•with useful thoughts on the subject, or the ^ure which it opens, as well as in 



for the practical skill and observation 
which renders his life's experience, 
opened up in an oration, of more value 
than scientific erudition. The Mont- 
gomery Association has, on two late oc- 
casions, fortunately found all these quali- 
fications blended in those who delivered 
the addresses. Professor Hallowell, of 
Alexandria, led the way in bringing phi- 
losophy to speak the language of a farmer, 
and to show that the elaboration of the 
fruits of the earth, although as simple as 
the process of nature herself, involved the 
deepest science in the investigation of 
the most efficacious means of production. 
Mr. Holcomb, in the Address which is 
given in this day's Globe, deeply read as 
he is, forgets his books in his love of the 
farm, and goes to work with his hands in 
the harvest, and like Goldsmith's veteran — 

"Shoulders his fork, to show how fields were 
won." 

The unaffected plainness of Mr. Hol- 
comb's account of the labors and laborers 
on his farm, and the unpretending way in 
which he puts before our eyes the instruc- 
tion he would impart, make a strong 
feature in his speech. We have the 
reality before us, and with a sort of sym- 
pathy for the business in hand, we lake 
the interest in the scene, and those en- 
gaged in it, that spectators of a race do 
in its chances. We see him cap his 
shock for the English farmers, and we 
take pride in the assurance that the 
American cap will perform its duty, and 
triumph over the ranks of British wind- 
rows. He presents nis champion of 
the harvest-field — his fork trembling under 
the mass of hay he is lifting at the close 
of a sultry day's labor; and shows off the 
willing and emulous spirit of our hardy 



the immediate happy results that must 
reach every benevolent heart. Even the 
vagrant eye of the traveler catches enjoy- 
ment from picturesque cottages dotting a 
landscape, as they awaken instinctive 
sympathy with the quiet comfort of happy 
dwellers within. To the owner of an 
estate who, like Mr. Holcomb, is sensi- 
ble of the advantage he confers in the 
steady employment and ample compen- 
sation of the tenants who live on it derive 
from him, and of the full returns they 
make by their labors on the teeming soil 
— in the growing fertility and beauty they 
spread around him, and the sure and rich 
results which establish him in independ- 
ence — how gratifying must be the view of 
the little homes made happy by the very 
prosperity they build up for the loftier 
edifice that looks down upon them. The 
effect which a view of this mutually bene- 
ficial relation presents in the dwellings, 
great and small, which adorn a prosperous 
country, has made it a theme for poetry 
in every age. The idea of a cottage, and 
its name, alike harmonize in verse, and 
the muse always associates with it thoughts 
of love and repose. Even Moore, who 
was really an epicurean poet, and who 
sang for palaces and feasts, not only proved 
by his songs, but by his life, that the cot- 
tage was the scene where domestic felicity 
was to be found. He sang to the high- 
born in his happiest strains: 
"I knew by the smoke, that so gracefully curl'd 

Above the green elms, that a cottage was near, 
And 1 said, ' If there's peace to be found in the 
world, 

A heart that was humble might hope for it 

here!'" 

and it was to an humble cottage, where 

he gave himself up to the joys of domestic 

life, that he fied from the pleasures of 



14 






London ;ind Paris, and I lie great world ; 
and his lately-published diary shows he 
there found the greatesl happiness of a life 
that was, indeed, until almost the close 
of it, a long and genial summer's day. 
His life, however, was the life of a pros- 
perous poet always reveling in imagina- 
tion. Burns gives us the real cotter's life 
in his simple and truthful delineation of; 
the home of his father. It is in that pic- 
ture that the class who come from foreign I 
lands to raise their fortunes in this may 
see the position from which they must) 
win their way to independence. The j 
cotter's Saturday night in the land of 
our forefathers, is the cotter's Saturday 
night here, until hy industry and care be 
provides the means to establish himself) 
on his own soil. Bums's home-taught 
poetry gives in every line an illustration 
of the condition of the free but landless j 
class of that rural population who, hy 
their toil, earn a share of the independ- 
ence which our fruitful earth bestows, and 
on whom Mr. Holcomb seems most to 
rely to promote the agricultural interests 
of the country. The homestead in which 
Burns was cradled and his genius un- 1 
folded, differed little from the log-cabins in 



which the great men werenJIsed who deliv- 
ered this great country from vassalage. In 
them religion — the rudiments of letti 
the domestic virtues — sturdy habit- of frC 
i, r :i! industry created the vigorous un 
-landing — the robust strength — the dai 
spirit and devoted patriotism that built uL 
the most glorious Republic of the eartlt 
Shall we look for the perpetuation of th* 
materials of which it is constructed i 1 
homes of pampered opulence ? No. Wi| 
say with Mr. Holcomb, we must chei 
the humble cottage on the wide-spreai 
farm, the little freeholds alongside, anc 
make all who have abodes on the lam' 
happy in the laborious avocations which 
make it teem with blessings, if we wouh 
maintain and advance the glory and pros- 
perity of the great continent which Prov- 
idence has given us in charge. 

We would commend especially to thf 
consideration of such as would establish 
inheritances, the sound common-sense 
views taken by Mr. Holcomb in the con- 
clusion of his address, as to investments 
in the soil being the surest mode, i 
in this country, which opens the door t " 
every species of alienation to continue fo n 
tunes in families. 



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